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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23161678">No Ordinary Apple</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/andthelightbulbclicks/pseuds/andthelightbulbclicks'>andthelightbulbclicks</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The 100 Troped Challenge [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The 100 (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Snow White, Chopped Madness, F/M, Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 12:21:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,488</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23161678</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/andthelightbulbclicks/pseuds/andthelightbulbclicks</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When Josephine awakens in Clarke Griffin's body, she has no reason to believe anything about her reincarnation is out of the ordinary.</p><p>Then she learns that Clarke was far from a willing host and meets Bellamy Blake.</p><p>She doesn't expect to become invested in their love story, and she certainly doesn't plan on risking her own life to make things right.</p><p>And yet, here she is. All in the name of true love.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bellamy Blake &amp; Josephine Lightbourne, Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The 100 Troped Challenge [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1706239</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>142</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>TROPED: Madness 1.0</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>No Ordinary Apple</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This was written for the Qualifying Round of <a href="https://chopped100challenge.tumblr.com/">Chopped Madness</a>:</p><p><b>Character</b>: Bellamy Blake<br/><b>Theme</b>: Canonverse<br/><b>Fairy Tale AU</b>: Snow White<br/><b>Write a good guy as a villain, or a villain as a good guy</b>: Josephine Lightbourne as a good guy :)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Josephine wakes like she has on every reincarnation so far – screaming.</p><p>She wishes just one of her deaths wouldn’t involve some violent end that has her catapulting back into life on a terrified wail.</p><p>She gathers herself as her parents hover over her, reassuring her in bodies that are different than the last ones she saw them in. It only takes a few moments before she’s wrapping her arms around them both in a tight embrace as she settles more and more into her new body with each breath. </p><p>Once she feels steady enough to stand on her own two new feet, she heads towards the full-length mirror in the lab that she insisted be put there so that she could see what she’s working with upon each awakening.</p><p>She stands there, staring at a bombshell blonde.</p><p>“Mirror, mirror on the wall,” she drawls, her hand reaching up to curl her finger around the chopped blonde locks. “Who’s the fairest one of all?”</p><p>She checks herself out in the mirror, eyes looking up to meet her parents coming up behind her in the reflection with smiles etched on their faces.</p><p>She pauses for dramatic effect, allowing her smile to grow.</p><p>“It’s me,” she reveals with a tilt of her head that has her short hair bouncing.</p><p>Her father shakes his head in amusement, too happy to have her back to nitpick her hair twisting habit.</p><p>“What was her name?” She asks, dropping her hand before he can start in on her. </p><p>“Clarke Griffin,” her dad says, the look on his face telling her there’s more. </p><p>“It seems like there’s a story there,” she notes, turning away from the mirror to face her parents. </p><p>“Clarke is,” her father hesitates, “was, a blessing and a curse, Josie.”</p><p>Clarke Griffin, Josephine thinks, sounds like she had one hell of a story.</p><p>And she can’t help but wonder what made her willing to give it all up to let Josie come back.</p>
<hr/><p>As it turns out, nothing did.</p><p>Clarke Griffin didn’t go willingly.</p><p>The truth her parents tell leaves a pit unsettled in her stomach long after they explained who Clarke was – where she came from, how she ended up here in Sanctum, and who she was taken from against her will.</p><p>Her parents broke the single vow the Primes made centuries ago, and now Josephine has to pretend she’s someone she’s not and live the rest of her time in this body knowing this woman’s life was stolen from her. </p><p>She spends the day in her rooms – painting, decompressing, and trying to rationalize why her parents did what they did. </p><p>And when she hasn’t made any headway on wrapping her head around it, she wonders about the woman herself.</p><p>From looking over her new body, it’s clear Clarke Griffin’s life was not an easy one.</p><p>Scars litter her hands and chest, bruises on her neck, discolored patches of skin stretching all across her stomach and back.</p><p>Her parents said these Sky People are dangerous, that they’ll destroy all that Sanctum is if they find out what was done to Clarke.</p><p>Josephine wonders if all they were looking for was a place to escape all of the violence.</p><p>She doesn’t sleep that night.</p><p>It’s normal, really. Josephine’s never able to sleep on the first night in a new host because she’s so wired and restless. But this time, she finds herself unable to stop fidgeting in the confines of her room because her mind is racing with the mystery of Clarke Griffin.</p><p>So when the sun begins to shine its rays in her room indicating morning, Josephine gets dressed in Clarke’s clothes and goes about following her parents’ directions – be Clarke Griffin.</p><p>It goes smoothly, at first.</p><p>Jade tails her the entire time, whispering names to her as she encounters Clarke’s people.</p><p>She has a run in with a group of seven Sky People – Raven, Murphy, Emori, Jordan, Echo, Jackson, and Miller. Jade whispers the names, Josephine forgets them immediately. All she knows is that they make it quite clear that Clarke is unwelcome in their presence.</p><p>She finds herself confused that these are the people her parents are worried will retaliate. Their hostility towards her paints a different story.</p><p>Clarke’s daughter, Madi, narrows her eyes slightly at her when Josephine doesn’t respond in some language the child was speaking, but she sails through a conversation with Clarke’s mother easily.</p><p>All in all, Josie calls it a win. And she becomes less and less worried about Sanctum’s safety as the day goes on.</p><p>And then she encounters Bellamy Blake.</p><p>“Princess!”</p><p>“That’s you. He’s Bellamy,” Jade whispers urgently as she walks by her, turning a corner to remain out of sight, but close.</p><p>Josephine’s brows scrunch together in confusion. <em>Princess</em>. Such a word of endearment, especially with the way it’s being said.</p><p>She turns towards the person calling for her and finds a curly haired man walking towards her, looking at her like she hung both of the freaking moons.</p><p>And she knows this whole charade is fucked then and there.</p><p>Josephine hesitates.</p><p>She never hesitates, but her parents didn’t mention anything about a boyfriend, and she’s not sure how she’s supposed to approach this without completely blowing it.</p><p>“Bellamy,” she says when he reaches her, smiling at him. “Hi. What’s up?”</p><p>“You were missing all day yesterday,” he tells her, looking her up and down as if checking for injury, “everything okay?”</p><p>Right. She supposes people would have noticed Clarke’s absence yesterday. Except nobody else she’s encountered has seemed to even care.</p><p>“Yeah,” she pauses, buying herself a moment to think. “I just needed to take some time for myself,” she explains, giving him her best sheepish smile.</p><p>She notes the way his demeanor changes immediately. “Everything okay with the doctor?”</p><p>Again, Josephine hesitates.</p><p>Maybe he’s talking about the bruises on her neck. “Oh yeah, they said everything was fine. No serious injury or anything.”</p><p>“What?” Bellamy asks, her response clearly not what he was expecting as his face scrunches in confusion.</p><p>A tense pause falls between them as Bellamy scrutinizes her again, Josephine feeling like he’s seeing right through her. “The, uh, the doctor, right? They said everything checked out okay.”</p><p>“Laik yu kei?” He then asks like a question, and Josephine recognizes the language from when Madi spoke to her, but also has no better grasp on how to respond.</p><p>She opens her mouth, but has no response in the strange language.</p><p>It only takes a second more for Bellamy’s face to click with the realization that she has no idea what he’s saying, reaction instant as he shoves her into the nearest building wall, his forearm right against her chest, holding her in place.</p><p>“Yu laik nou Klark,” he seethes, temperament drastically different from when he initially called out to her. </p><p>“Okay,” Josephine wheezes out, trying to hold her hands up in surrender. “Okay, you got me.”</p><p>The anger in Bellamy’s eyes doesn’t waver as he glares at her. “What the hell did you <em>do</em> to her?” He demands, his voice shaking in anger, possibly fear, even as he increases the pressure in his arm.</p><p>“I’ll explain everything,” she manages to get out, her breaths coming shorter, “but you’ve gotta let up here, kay?”</p><p>He doesn’t say anything in response, just continues to glare at her.</p><p>He might actually hurt her if he doesn’t let up.</p><p>The click of a gun behind him catches both of their attentions before he has the chance. </p><p>“Step away from her,” Jade orders from behind Bellamy. </p><p>Even then, he doesn’t react immediately. His eyes search her face. For what, she can’t tell, but whatever he sees has his eyes closing in anguish as he finally releases the pressure on her chest.</p><p>Still, his arm rests there as his head drops between them.</p><p>“What did you do to her?” He asks again, this time no more than a broken whisper.</p><p>Gently, Josephine brings her still raised hands to lay on his arm, carefully lifting it off of her so that it falls back to his side.</p><p>“I’m not Clarke,” she says softly, “my name is Josephine Lightbourne.” At her words, his head lifts again to meet her gaze, and her heart wrenches as the crushing realization dawns on his face and his eyes well with tears. “I’ll explain everything the best that I can,” she tells him, glancing at Jade to signal for her to leave.</p><p>Jade looks reluctant to obey the order, but does nonetheless as she leaves them standing there.</p><p>When Josephine looks back at Bellamy, he’s still watching her face, as if he can’t look away even if he wanted to. She owes him, and in a roundabout way Clarke, the truth.</p><p>She tells him everything.</p><p>She starts with the first Red Sun. How her father and Gabriel spent decades trying to get them back, until they finally succeeded by taking the life of an unwilling girl – her first host. How after the Primes were brought back, they vowed to only accept willing hosts. How Clarke was the first unwilling host in centuries.</p><p>“They murdered her,” Bellamy rasps out after Josephine tells him how she woke up in this new body.</p><p>She swallows down on nothing, knowing the anger and sadness behind his words could very well lead to Sanctum’s destruction. </p><p>“Yes,” she answers truthfully. “What my parents did to your girlfriend was wrong. I’m sorry.”</p><p>At that, a forced laugh breaks past his lips. “Clarke isn’t my girlfriend,” he says, voice strained from what she can only guess is pain.</p><p>Girlfriend or not, Josephine’s not sure if Bellamy actually realizes how much that girl meant to him.</p><p>She clears her throat against the thought. “Either way, I should not have mocked her memory by pretending to be her. I should have been upfront if I wanted to be better than my parents' actions.”</p><p>At that, Bellamy scoffs, even as his tears continue to roll freely down his face. “No honesty can justify this.”</p><p>He levels her with a withering glare before turning and walking away, body radiating tension and heartbreak the entire way.</p>
<hr/><p>She doesn’t tell her parents what she’s done.</p><p>She also doesn’t sleep that night either.</p><p>Her mind can’t stop racing through every interaction she had with Clarke’s people – how they seemed to ostracize her when she tried speaking to them. How Madi and Bellamy seemed to be the only ones who wanted to speak to her, her own mom even too distracted to bother.</p><p>She thinks back on the interaction with Bellamy and wonders if Clarke loved him as well. Even if they weren’t together, it’s clear their relationship was special, and Bellamy’s response to her death only solidifies how deeply he loved her.</p><p>Her mind races all night with thoughts of Clarke Griffin and Bellamy Blake, and how it seems they never got the time together that they deserved.</p>
<hr/><p>Her parents storm into her room at the break of dawn the next morning, distracting her from staring at the ceiling as she had been for the past few hours.</p><p>“Well Josie,” her father starts immediately, “I’m not sure how us asking you to pretend to be Clarke somehow relayed to telling her people exactly who the primes are and what we did to her.”</p><p>She ignores her father's comment. “Why do her people hate her?”</p><p>Her mother’s scoff never changes, no matter the host. “I think you should be less worried about a dead girl and more worried about how <em>you</em>, and the rest of us, will be dead if we don’t smooth this over.”</p><p>“Smooth over the fact that you murdered a girl and stole her body,” Josephine retorts.</p><p>“Josie,” her mother pinches the bridge of her nose. “We murder all of our hosts. This one just didn’t go willingly.”</p><p>She finally sits up in her bed, looking angrily at them both standing in front of her.</p><p>“Josie,” her father starts again, “we need to fix this before they destroy everything. They’re hurt, and scared, and angry. That’s a very dangerous combination for us.”</p><p>Josephine sighs, tired of the conversation already. </p><p>“I’ll talk to Bellamy,” she says, getting out of bed. </p><p>“Because that went so well the last time,” her mother says sharply. </p><p>Josephine ignores her in favor of storming into her dressing rooms to change before going in search of Bellamy.</p><p>As opposed to yesterday when nobody seemed to want anything to do with her, today she might as well have a neon arrow pointing out her location. She catches Madi eyeing her with heartbreak and anger in her eyes, and she sees the other seven around the village, seeming possibly angrier than they did yesterday when she had approached them. Angry, and hurt.</p><p>Thankfully, she finds Bellamy before any of the others get the chance to approach her. He’s sitting on the dock of one of Sanctum’s ponds, feet dangling over the water and his hands twisted together in front of him. He looks disheveled in a way he didn’t yesterday, and she can’t help but wonder if he’s been sitting here for hours.</p><p>“Bellamy,” she says when she’s standing directly behind him. The single word has tension racing up his back, shoulders hunching in on themselves.</p><p>“Don’t do this,” he says, voice hoarse from what she can only guess is tears and screams. “Don’t torment me with her face and her voice any more than you already have.” It’s a combination of an order and a plea, and her gut twists with his pain.</p><p>She’ll get through this quickly, then leave him to his grief. </p><p>“I need to speak with you about a retaliation my parents believe will happen because of what was done.”</p><p>“You mean the <em>murder</em> that was committed?” He bursts out, getting to his feet and rounding on her so fast she has to take a step back. “You mean the complete lack of disregard for life that was done because Russell wanted to trade one life for another?”</p><p>Josephine takes two more steps back down the dock as Bellamy continues towards her.</p><p>He hesitates when he looks at her face, halting in his steps and turning away from her. “<em>Fuck,</em> I can’t even look at you.” He keeps his back to her. “I can’t look at you and see how you’re <em>so clearly </em>not her.”</p><p>“Bellamy–”</p><p>“How the fuck did I not know <em>instantly </em>that you weren’t her!?” He turns back to her, shouting angrily. “You don't <em>know </em>her! You don’t know what she’s been through, or how hard she fought to be here. You don’t–,” he pauses on a gasp, “you don’t say my name the way she did,” he reveals, devastation evident in his words.</p><p>Silence rings out after his outburst, leaving them both standing there – Josephine at a loss for words, Bellamy heaving in breaths as his grief overtakes him.</p><p>“So tell me about her,” Josephine says, daring to speak.</p><p>At that, Bellamy looks back at her, confusion joining all of the other emotions racing across his face. “Excuse me?”</p><p>She walks past him, heading to sit on the dock’s edge where she had found him. </p><p>“You’re right, I didn’t know her. She seemed like an interesting person.”</p><p>“She is,” he says, eyeing her suspiciously. “She <em>was</em>,” he corrects, though it clearly pains him to do so.</p><p>But to her surprise, he moves to retake his spot on the dock warily.</p><p>“Why do you call her a princess?” Josephine asks. “Is there a specific one in mind? Cinderella? Snow White? Or what about Ariel? The Little Mermaid?”</p><p>Bellamy lets her go on, only acknowledging her question after she’s stopped speaking.</p><p>“I don’t know what you’re talking about at all,” he says.</p><p>“You didn’t have the Disney Princess stories growing up?”</p><p>He scoffs at the question. “We didn’t have a lot growing up.”</p><p>“Tragic,” she says, swinging her feet. “I’m gonna go with Snow White then. I can’t help picturing all of your friends as the dwarfs.”</p><p>“Again, I have no idea what that even means.”</p><p>“Don’t worry,” she answers, “you're definitely Prince Charming in the story.”</p><p>He doesn’t respond to that, but she definitely catches the tinge in color blooming on his cheeks. Clearing his throat against her words, he looks down at his hands.</p><p>“Clarke deserved more than this,” he starts, voice cracking on her name.</p><p>After that, Josephine doesn’t utter a word. She allows Bellamy to tell her every piece of Clarke’s life, and all of the impossible situations she’s survived. She lets him get lost in the memories of her, only seeing more and more how helplessly in love he was, even if he doesn’t see it himself. </p><p>She feels for Clarke Griffin in a way she never has for any of her hosts. This woman survived so much, only to die when she thought they were safe.</p><p>“I should’ve been there to save her,” Bellamy says when he’s finished speaking. She wants to reach out to him, but knows how cruel that would be.</p><p>“Sometimes the prince doesn’t get there in time,” she says instead, and then slowly gets up, muscles aching from sitting and listening for hours.</p><p>Bellamy doesn’t respond, and Josephine chooses to leave him staring out at the water.</p><p>She doesn’t resolve any of the issues of Sanctum with Bellamy, but she walks away feeling that she understands Clarke a little more and that Bellamy was able to process his loss the slightest bit. </p><p>She’ll deal with the aftermath tomorrow. </p><p>She can’t resist a yawn as she enters her rooms, changing quickly and plopping down in bed to finally sleep.</p><p>Her eyes close immediately, and she drifts off instantly – only to find herself in a metal corridor.</p><p>“Who are you?” A voice asks from up ahead.</p><p>Glancing up, she finds the woman who’s plagued her thoughts for the past forty-eight hours.</p><p>“Hello, Clarke,” Josephine says, trying to keep the confusion and shock out of her voice so as not to startle her.</p><p>The woman’s eyes narrow at her, suspicion radiating off of her in waves.</p><p>Josephine’s not entirely sure how it’s possible, but that’s exactly who she’s staring at.</p><p>And if they are where Josephine thinks they are, then Clarke has managed to somehow protect her mind space.</p><p>Which means Clarke Griffin is very much alive.</p>
<hr/><p>Josephine wakes the next morning in Clarke’s body from possibly the most exhausting sleep in all of her centuries of life.</p><p>After explaining everything to Clarke and assuring her that she was still alive, Josephine came to a startling realization – both of them wouldn’t be able to survive in this body’s brain. </p><p>Something would have to be done to rid one of their minds from the body. Her mother could do it easily, and she could be rid of Clarke by tomorrow.</p><p>But then an even more staggering thought hit her.</p><p>Clarke could come back.</p><p>Her parents would never agree to the idea. It would take the work of somebody who knew exactly how the mind drives worked in order for it to be successful, but Josephine knew just who to go to for that.</p><p>“So you want to find your ex-boyfriend and have him take your mind drive out of my head so that I could come back.” Clarke was just as Bellamy had described – always looking for solutions to problems, always looking for the most logical solution.</p><p>Except there was nothing logical about what was happening to her.</p><p>“Essentially, yeah,” Josephine said with a shrug of her shoulder.</p><p>“<em>Why</em>?”</p><p>And that really was the biggest question, right?</p><p>Why would Josephine do this when she could just claim Clarke’s body as her own and have her parents wipe Clarke out?</p><p>None of her people would ever need to know. <em>Bellamy</em> would have no idea that there was a chance to get Clarke back.</p><p>But she also knows that there’s a way to right her parents’ wrong.</p><p>“Maybe it’d be for the better,” Clarke had said, breaking Josephine out of her planning. The comment was broken. </p><p>“What would?”</p><p>She watched Clarke swallow, trying to gather her words. “Maybe it would be best for everyone if I just– didn’t come back.”</p><p>And this, more than anything else, told Josephine just how affected Clarke had been by her people’s hostility towards her. Clarke saw taking herself out of the picture as a relief to those around her.</p><p>But Clarke hadn’t seen Madi’s pain or Bellamy’s anguish. She didn’t see the hurt in her friend’s eyes when they looked at Josephine.</p><p>She needed to bring Clarke back to them, because Josephine may not have known Clarke for long, but it was clear this was not the fate that she deserved.</p><p>Josephine was going to find Gabriel. She was going to make this right.</p>
<hr/><p>Josephine immediately goes on a search for Bellamy. If anyone’s going to help her get past the shield and find Gabriel’s Children, it’s going to be a man fighting for the love of his life.</p><p>She storms through Sanctum like a hurricane until she finds Bellamy sitting at one of the bars.</p><p>“Bellamy,” she starts, like always. Only this time, the name is breathless and urgent all at once.</p><p>Bellamy’s response to his name in Clarke’s voice is a slow, deep sigh.</p><p>When no further response comes, Josephine tries again. “<em>Bellamy</em>,” she says louder, firmer, impatiently.</p><p>He heaves another sigh, before turning to look at her with deep bruises under his eyes. “I can’t keep doing this. We won’t retaliate, but please don’t keep coming to me with her face and her voice.” It’s a request she should honor, but now is not the time to be wallowing in grief.</p><p>“No, you need to listen to me–”</p><p>“<em>No,”</em> he cuts in abruptly. “You need to listen to <em>me</em>. I cannot accept that Clarke is gone if every time I try to, you keep showing up to throw it right in my face that I’m looking right at her but <em>she’s not fucking there</em>!”</p><p>“But she is!” Josephine shouts back, knowing they don’t have the time for this argument.</p><p>At that, Bellamy’s anger freezes as his body stills at her words.</p><p>“What did you just say?” His voice is eerily calm against the rage of moments go.</p><p>Josephine’s takes a breath to center herself. “I don’t know exactly how, but somehow, Clarke is still in here too.”</p><p>The words act like a switch for Bellamy, as the mess of a human from moments before settles back into the leader of his people that Clarke says he is.</p><p>“Can we get her back?” He asks urgently, logistics clearly racing through his mind already. “Can she hear me?”</p><p>“No, she can’t,” she explains. “But we have to act fast. This body won’t be able to sustain both of our minds for long. We need to find Gabriel. He’ll know what to do to get my mind chip out and put Clarke back in control.”</p><p>Bellamy nods his head, getting up with a purpose she hasn’t seen from him yet. But then he hesitates, eyes narrowing at her in suspicion. “Why tell me this? Why do this and lose Clarke’s body?”</p><p>Josephine rolls her eyes. She’s not sure how much clearer she can be about the urgency here.</p><p>“Because Clarke deserves to know how much she is loved. She deserves to know how much you love her. And you deserve the chance to be able to tell her.”</p><p>He doesn’t have a response to that. Instead, he gapes for another moment before nodding his head in acceptance, following her out of the bar. </p><p>Bellamy seems to be a man on a mission, and in no time at all, Raven is shutting down the shield and allowing her and Bellamy to pass into the woods before the Sanctum guards notice anything amiss. </p><p>They glance back briefly to see Clarke’s seven friends standing on the other side of the shield, sparing the both of them one last glance before turning away to face off with the guards rapidly closing in on them. </p><p>They turn and start running. </p><p>Josephine takes some vague lead from what she remembers about the Children of Gabriel’s dwellings from her past lives, until she’s suddenly feeling dizzy and collapsing into the dirt.</p><p>Bellamy’s leaning over, eyes full of worry as he reaches up with his sleeve and gently runs it across the bottom of her nose. When he pulls his arm away, she sees black blood soaked into the fabric. </p><p>She brings up her own hand, pulling it away to see it smeared with blood.</p><p>“We have to hurry,” she says, needing Bellamy’s assistance to get up before they start moving again, him sticking closer to her side, and eventually draping her arm around his shoulder to help her along when the blood starts dripping out of her ears as well.</p><p>“Why is this happening?” Bellamy pants, refusing to let up their pace, even if it means he’s quite literally dragging her along. </p><p>“The brain can’t process two minds. It will shut down on itself and kill us both if we don’t hurry,” she gasps.</p><p>“Hang tight, I think I see something up ahead,” he tells her, even as his words sound like they’re miles away from her. She tries to tell him she’s not going to make it there, even thinks some string of words make it past her lips, but then her vision is going black, and she’s back in Clarke’s mind space with Clarke leaning over her.</p><p>“What’s happening?” Clarke asks urgently, trying to help Josephine into a sitting position. “This place is falling apart.”</p><p>Josephine coughs, and blood pours out of her mouth. She looks up to see blood seeping out of Clarke’s nose as well.</p><p>“Your body’s shutting down,” Josephine gasps, before coughing some more. “Bellamy has to get us to Gabriel fast or it will be too late.”</p><p>“Bellamy?” Clarke asks. “He’s here?” Her voice is small, like she shouldn’t dare to believe it.</p><p>“Of course he is, Clarke! He’s your fucking Prince Charming! He lo–”</p><p>But before she can finish her rant, her eyes are opening again in the real world, where she’s laying on her back, with Bellamy and two strangers staring over her with determined looks on their faces.</p><p>“That you, Jose?” The man asks. He’s handsome, with a patch of white in his hair. But it’s the quirk of his eyebrow that gives him away. </p><p>“Gabriel?” She wheezes, reaching up a hand to cradle his face. He leans into it instantly, just as he used to. “You’re younger than I expected,” she tries to tease, though the words are a struggle to even say. </p><p>“You and your true love quests always get you into sticky situations.” His words are so fond. She’s missed him so much. </p><p>“This one is the true kind, Gabe,” she gasps. “And I think this is my last quest.”</p><p>His eyes are solemn at that, understanding what she means without having to say it. </p><p>He nods once, leaning down to rest his lips against her sweaty forehead. “Only one of you can survive, Jose,” he whispers, just for her to hear.</p><p>“I know,” she answers, voice trembling with tears. But she’s lived enough lives. Clarke needs this one. </p><p>She reaches for his hand, grabbing his attention one last time. “You are my forever,” she tells him, putting all the energy she has left into the words before she’s blacking out again, and finding Clarke right where Josephine left her.</p><p>Clarke’s sitting on the ground, knees tucked up in front of her with her arms wrapped around them.</p><p>“They’re going to get you back, Clarke,” Josephine forces out, dragging herself up and crawling to sit next to her. “You just have to take the control.”</p><p>The words should be good news to Clarke, but instead, she looks back to Josephine with something that looks a little bit like sadness, and a whole lot like acceptance.</p><p>“I’m not going back,” Clarke states.</p><p>“What?” Josephine asks, not comprehending the words after everything she went through today to get to this point. </p><p>“I’ve been exploring my mind space, and it just keeps showing me how much better off everyone would be if I’m gone,” Clarke says as if each word pains her to say it. “I– I’ve escaped death enough times.”</p><p>“<em>No,”</em> Josephine demands, refusing to accept this as the end. “I’m the one who has lived countless lives. This is your one and only life Clarke, don’t give it up. <em>Please </em>don’t give it up,” she begs.</p><p>“I just–,” Clarke’s voice breaks, she sounds so defeated. “I just want all this pain to stop.”</p><p>They sit there, side by side, backs against the wall, as the mind space continues to collapse around them.</p><p>If one of them doesn’t take control now, neither of them will be able to.</p><p>“Okay,” Josephine whispers, nodding to herself. </p><p>Clarke turns her head to look at Josephine. “Okay?”</p><p>Josephine nods again, lifting her hand as an apple appears in her grip with her simply willing it into existence. “Yeah. Okay.” She holds the apple out to Clarke, who takes it in her hand with confusion etched across her face.</p><p>“An apple?”</p><p>She tilts her head toward the fruit now in Clarke’s hand. “No ordinary apple. A bite out of that, and you’ll get exactly what you need.”</p><p>She watches Clarke hesitate, clearly battling with herself, before determination settles into her features. “Ai gonplei ste odon,” she whispers to herself.</p><p>“Sure,” Josie retorts, “though that sounds mega-depressing.”</p><p>It pulls the barest smile from Clarke as she glances at Josephine. “Thank you,” Clarke says to her, before taking a bite out of it, disappearing out of sight and heading back to where she belongs.</p><p>Josephine leans her head back against the wall, allowing herself a smile as her surroundings collapse in on her.</p><p>“Ai gonplei ste odon,” she mutters to herself. “Whatever the fuck that means.”</p><p>She closes her eyes, and finally rests.</p>
<hr/><p>Bellamy pinches Clarke’s nose again, ready to lean down to breathe air into her lungs over and over again until she’s able to breathe on her own.</p><p>Octavia is behind him pleading with him to stop, that Clarke’s gone, that he needs to let go.</p><p>Gabriel is watching the screens showing Clarke and Josephine’s brain waves. </p><p>And Bellamy is still fighting with all he’s got to get Clarke back. He’ll keep fighting until–</p><p>Clarke’s body jolts up on a gasp for breath, her body lurching, Bellamy right there to catch her. </p><p>She’s heaving in breaths as Bellamy strokes her sweat-soaked hair out of her face, pleading to anyone listening that it’s Clarke that he’s holding. </p><p>“Clarke?” He dares to ask, as she pulls away to look at him, her eyes fighting to focus on what’s in front of her.</p><p>“Bell?” She whispers, igniting a flare of joy like no other as he wraps her in his arms, cradling her head carefully as he sighs in relief.</p><p>All too soon, however, she’s pulling away from him and leaping off of the bed, racing over to a table with wires still attached to her body. She grabs the closest sheet of paper and a pen with her right hand, racing to scribble onto the sheet rapidly.</p><p>It makes Bellamy’s stomach twist, because Clarke isn’t right-handed.</p><p>“I’m Clarke,” she says, sending a reassuring glance in his direction even as she continues to write. “But Josephine’s the one writing.”</p><p>“How?” Octavia demands, looking to Gabriel, who’s eyes are on the screens where Clarke’s brain signal is strong and Josephine’s is slowly puttering out.</p><p>“She’s saying goodbye,” Gabriel explains, sadness etched into his features. He stares at Josephine’s screen as the line goes flat. Bellamy turns to see Clarke has dropped the pen and is staring at the paper Josephine had her write on. </p><p>Bellamy walks over carefully, standing behind Clarke and glancing over her shoulder. </p><p>On the paper are three notes, written in a scratchy scrawl that is nothing like Clarke’s.</p><p>The first:</p><p>
  <em>Gabriel,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I have loved you for centuries, and I will continue to love you for centuries more… But it’s time for our fairy tale to end, and for theirs to begin. See you on the other side, Old Man.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>—Jose</em>
</p><p> </p><p>The second:</p><p>
  <em>Clarke, </em>
</p><p>
  <em>The pain and suffering ends here. True love’s kiss has woken you. Let Prince Charming love you.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>—Josephine</em>
</p><p> </p><p>And the last:</p><p>
  <em>Bellamy,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Snow White lives…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>—Evil Queen</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Bellamy wraps his arms around Clarke from where he stands, and can’t help the smile that stretches across his face as he tucks it into her shoulder. </p><p>Clarke turns in his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck, holding him tight and breathing him in. </p><p>Clarke Griffin lives. And he’ll treat her like the princess she deserves to be for the rest of his life.</p><p><em>Thanks Josephine</em>, he thinks, hoping that wherever she is, she gets the message.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p><i>Laik yu kei?</i>: Are you okay?<br/><i>Yu laik nou Klark</i>: You aren't Clarke<br/><i>Ai gonplei ste odon</i>: My fight is over</p></blockquote></div></div>
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